Recipes and tips for simple, healthy frugal cooking and frugal living

I need to start this post by apologizing in advance to any and all Argentinians who happen by this post AND anyone else who might happen to attempt this recipe.Â This recipe is definitely not from Argentina and is, arguably, edible at best.Â There is one magical part of the recipe that hails from Argentina, chimichurri sauce, which I felt compelled to write about because it is simple, versatile, easy to make, delicious and FRUGAL.

Chimichurri is itself a fusion of Argentinian and Italian influence.Â It’s found all over South America in different variations and commonly used as a table sauce and marinade for grilled meats.Â It’s basically parsley and/or cilantro, garlic and spices ground up with oil and vinegar.Â You could think of it like a South American pesto for meat.

Below is my last interpretation of chimichurri:

Chimichurri sauce

1/2 cup fresh curly parsley leaves, lightly chopped

1/4 cup red onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic

1/2t 1t salt

1/4t black pepper

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

Put all the ingredients except the oil into a food processor and chop until fine.Â Add the olive oil and mix well.Â Serve this on simply grilled beef, chicken, pork or sausages (or breakfast tacos).Â It would also be great as a sandwich spread.

Chimichurri is best after it’s had a chance to sit for a day so making it the day before you need it is a good idea.Â It keeps in the fridge for at least a week so make a big batch and keep it on hand.

There are many variations of chimichurri.Â Next time I make this I might:

Use flat leaf parsley or use half cilantro.

Add some hungarian or spanish smoked paprika

Add some Mexican oregano

Add some hot chile flakes (like the pizza variety) or cayenne pepper

So, now that you know how to make this magical sauce, here is how NOT to use it:

Argentinian Breakfast Tacos

2 small flour tortillas

1/2 cup refried beans

2 eggs

hot sauce

2T chimichurri

Fry the eggs over medium or however you like them.Â Make each taco with a warm tortilla, 1/4 cup of beans, 1 egg, a few dashes of hot sauce and 1T of the chimichurri.Â Lean over the plate because it’s going to get messy.Â YUM! (or YUCK!)

The fact that I took this wonderful sauce and combined it with eggs, beans and tortillas is testament to my own inability to recognize a bad combination when I taste it.Â I’m not saying that I wouldn’t make this again.Â In fact, as I write this post I’m contemplating frying up some eggs to go with the chimichurri in the fridge from last night.Â I know I have beans in the pantry.Â Tortillas anyone?

[ps] Immediately after writing this post, I ended up making an open-faced variety of the above recipe and couldn’t resist posting a couple of photos.Â I’ve still not figured out whether this is delicious or disgusting.Â I guess I’ll have to make it again. 😉

Horaayy..there are 3 comment(s) for me so far ;)

#1

[…] Chimichurri! This traditional Argentinian marinade and sauce for grilled meat is full of flavor.Â Serve this on the side with your next barbeque.Â For a real South American barbeque, baste the meat with nothing but salt water while grilling.Â You won’t believe the flavor! […]

Hello there. I am absolutely certain that “the Taco” is not a typical Argentinian food. Taco’s are very Mexican or Central American. Argentina’s breakfast consists of a Latte and butter croissants, for the most part. Hotels will cater to foreigners with eggs and ham, etc… but its not Argentinian. So there is no Argentinian Taco as you state in your blog.

You are absolutely correct. I didn’t mean to imply that the taco was Argentinian. This is an entirely made up recipe that takes Argentinian flavors and combines them into something resembling a Mexican taco.